[Idea] Character Limit

[Cyndikate 2303]

We had this rule back in Asulon.

 

No one enforced it.

[John Ivory 4547]

http://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/94865-one-account-one-character/

More stuff in there that may support your argument if you want it.

Unfortunately I cannot put up a greater argument for it than your own, so thank you for linking it. If you'd like to post that same post on this thread perhaps it would work as well, but I am certain the topic itself would get more input if you were to post it here as this is a newer thread.

[Elindor 666]

There is very little purpose to implementing a restriction for actions that affect so few and are undertaken by such a minority. LotC is now open and encouraging to playing the game the way you want to. Such a needless restriction oppresses that creativity and offers no reasonable benefit.

 

 

QUICK EDIT: Aside from a brief hobo that I played in the interim while Elindor was away doing something else IC and some burly human woman that I attempted to play for a bit to learn new RP skills, I have always played one and that is my preference. There are benefits and drawbacks to both sides of the coin. But still, if you want to play the game /that/ way then why would I want to stop you just because it is different than the way I want you to play it?

[Aengoth 2890]

 Lets not try to force such a silly rule down peoples throats just because it may be annoying to see someone play 8 different characters. If a player decides they want to try multiple characters then by no means should we judge them for it. Nor are we in any position to claim one way of playing on LotC is more correct then the other. Some players are just trying to get a feel for what sort of character they wish to play, others just want to play small niche specific roles. 

  Not to mention, this sounds like it could be a huge pain starting a new character after one perma's. Unless there is a player bypass, which would then just be used to switch between characters and render the entire effort null.

[rukio 8924]

I hate to say this, but I honestly don't think you've been here long enough to know the problem with suggesting this. Personally I enjoy playing a LOT of characters, as I'm sure a lot of other people do as well. Why should we have to limit our mind's creativity to one character? I think we branch out more when we make a lot of characters, even if we don't play them very often. Some of the best characters I have met have been temporary characters, because they add excitement to an otherwise dull repetitive day of roleplay. It's not my intent to 'bash' you for being new, I just don't think you have been roleplaying long enough here, where it gets horribly boring due to nothing new character wise, to understand.

[Snake Plissken 637]

[Lita 677]

[Cappy 1599]

The problem is, alts aren't the root of these problems. I've argued against this before. Let me break this down...

My idea is that players on Lord of the Craft should be limited to one character per username registered. That means that players should only be allowed to have one character per "account" they have on Lord of the Craft. I feel that this would benefit the server because the more characters someone has (in my opinion) the worse the player is able to progress and develop that character, a large part of roleplay in the first place.

This is entirely incorrect. People create and develop characters at their own pace. Someone who does not develop characters well won't develop characters well, regardless of how many characters they have or how many they're restricted to. It falls onto the player and no one else to develop their character, and while they can be encouraged to do so by other role-players, restricting characters doesn't make people better at developing their characters. What does make them better at developing characters? Role-playing. Doesn't matter what character they're role-playing, just role-playing experience is what makes someone better and role-playing and subsequently developing characters.

In addition, restricting alts based on accounts owned is a silly prospect. I have more Minecraft accounts than most people, so for some reason that entitles me to play more characters simply because I spent more money? That's effectively charging $30 per character card. Going down this route it makes a lot more sense to make them a VIP perk, but I'll elaborate on why I think that's a bad idea later.

 

In The extreme amount of characters some players have also has the chance to spread out roleplay. When they could be roleplaying on one character in said character's town, they are elsewhere roleplaying in another town. I feel like this is a problem and spreads out roleplay too much. I have heard that some players even have over ten characters! That is way overboard and simply unneeded.

This has nothing to do with alts. One player online and role-playing is one player online and role-playing, no matter where they're role-playing. It's hardly spreading role-play, and in fact encourages people to make reasons for people to role-play in their city. If someone isn't role-playing in your city, it's not because they have alts, it's because somewhere else is more interesting to role-play for them.

 

Another feature of this character limit would be preventing war-alts from being a nuisance to many people. If you wanted to fight in a war you would need to use your character and have it impact them and develop them rather than a one-day alt which is discarded soonly after.

If people enjoy playing in wars they can play in wars. Running around in a large PvP clickfest is hardly character development.

 

This could also be an idea for a new and perhaps largely wanted VIP perk. Each time you increase VIP ranks perhaps you can get one more character "card". For example:

• Coal VIP: two character slots
• Iron VIP: three character slots
• Gold VIP: four character slots
• Diamond VIP: five character slots

and so on.

Now this is more reasonable, however it's still flawed. You're trying to argue why alts are bad, then suggesting giving them to people who pay money. Assuming your reasons above are valid (which I do not believe they are), how does someone paying money make them a better role-player who will develop characters better and make them more trusted to role-play multiple characters correctly? Money should have no connection to alts at all because, well, it doesn't.

 

This rule can be enforced by customizing the roleplay essentials plugin into only allowing players with the OP (moderator + admin rank) to change player's races. Without the ability to change races on their own, players cannot abuse the ability to change your whole character card at will.

Race: Elf

/setinfo Actual race is human, ignore above.

This is what happened when /setrace was restricted (remember Aegis/Asulon when card resets were a VIP perk?)

[Quavinir_Twiceborn 1050]

This is what happened when /setrace was restricted (remember Aegis/Asulon when card resets were a VIP perk?)

...

I did that.

My lord - I hated the Asulon restriction...

[Sneaky 189]

Wasn't this how it was like in Aegis and you donated for a skill and character reset??

[argonian 14254]

Wasn't this how it was like in Aegis and you donated for a skill and character reset??

That was Asulon. Aegis did lock /setrace but you couldn't pay for character reset and I forget how skills worked. I think the GMs would set your race for you if you wanted to play a new character, but I think your old character had to be dead or missing or something.

[Sporadic 2844]

Here's an idea that has many a side. Do the players know best what they will enjoy the most? Certainly! However, we also have those who believe, and I tend to agree with them, that many Personas for one Player decreases the overall quality of RP.

 

The alt culture has been around since mid-Asulon, as a result of the spreading of the towns. It is somewhat of a tragedy of the commons: You can change venue by means of an alt when RP gets boring, but anyone who doesn't tends to run into more shallow, less developed characters as a result. Unless they ALSO switch venues until they find a RP buddy, they are simply enjoying themselves less.

 

All else being the same, the character that is the sole devotion of a player is never less fun to RP with than a character among many (and generally more). The character has been developed more, has a deeper personality, and less OOC need seep into the RP. What is more, a sole character can take up bigger responsibilities: You cannot be the town blacksmith if you are only Blacksmithing 1/3rd of the time: People will not be able to have their armor repaired while you're off playing an alt.

 

Does that mean the mods shouldn't trust the community when they want alts: certainly not. The want for alts is part of a larger problem and doesn't get fixed by restricting players. Regardless, there's a need for change in this area of RP.

 

My original plan was to give you 1 character per Player + extra for VIP. Considering this thread, that is not likely to happen anymore (unless some Admin really wants it). Instead, it might become 2 characters per Player + extra for VIP. Either that, or we start every player off with 1 Persona, and award the second slot if and only if the Player has accumulated X hours of total playtime on 1 single Persona. This way, theoretically, we can trust the player to devote some time into the server, and will not produce shallow characters that detract from the enjoyment of others

[Lago 2572]

There's no restriction on alts, but the practicalities of the plugins will likely form a restriction in of themselves. I severely doubt that the Magic or Skill plugins have alt support.

[Jistuma 1996]

Guys, again about the slots... it's already like that.

 

With no VIP you have 2 character cards.

 

I'm gold VIP, I have 3 character cards (I think you get 3 in iron)

 

If you donate more, you get more character cards.

 

Now, this helps me, since I play... well, 2 characters, and then a lot of event characters, so I use slot 1 for my main, slot 2 for my Harbinger, and slot 3 for my event characters.

 

As for more develop characters? If you look at my signature, you will see 3 living characters. I don't play two of them anymore because simply, I am enjoying my main character a lot more, and as my second character I play my Harbinger because he is more needed. I stopped playing my other characters because the rp I was having with them became stale, and that was also the reason I made them. That and I always wanted to play characters like that. They never had much meaning... but so what? I enjoyed it, the others enjoyed it, no harm was done.

[zaezae 1098]

" anyone who doesn't tends to run into more shallow, less developed characters as a result."

 

This has nothing to do with alts, and everything to do with shitty roleplayers. 

 

Almost the entirety of this argument rests on the assumption that more time with a character yield a better character. That same character that you have 'devotion' to, and would be more likely to metagame/powergame/ and otherwise be a shitty roleplayer to keep #1 safe and to get what your character wants. More likely to become an uninteresting Mary/Gary Sue with 'ssuuuccchhh' a history. He's so /perfect/.

 

That said, everyone should be forced to have AT LEAST five alts.

 

I can take anecdotal thinking pretty far too.